City Victory Over Wrexham Puts Them 14th in the League

Saturday February 14th 1970.

EXETER CITY 1 WREXHAM 0.

The game began in brilliant sunshine, but the pitch was still showing signs of wear, and there was a liberal sprinkling of sand down the centre and in each goal-mouth. Wrexham were the first to threaten when a cleverly constructed move took them as far as the six yards line, but Blain came to the rescue of Exeter and Wilson picked up and kicked clear.

Exeter City:- Wilson; Balson, Blain; Parker, Sharples, Morris; Giles, Banks, Wingate, Gadston, Mitten.

Wrexham: Gaskell; Ingle, Birmingham; Mason, Vansit tart, Davis;
Moir, Park, Smith, Kinsey, Griffiths.

Subs: Corr (City) and Tinnion (Wrexham).
Referee:- Mr R.C.Challis of Tonbridge.

This turned out to be a dour defensive struggle on the heavy ground, and the crowd, officially reported as being 4,210, found little to enthuse over. Wilson however received loud applause in the 18th minute when he produced a truly fantastic save at full length from Smith, and some few minutes afterwards when he came to Exeter's rescue with another fine save from Kinsey after Balson and Blain had let the ball skid through. But Exeter broke the deadlock in the 80th minute when Banks squeezed the ball over the line in a goalmouth scramble after Mitten's shot had been blocked. This latest victory has put the City almost half way up the League table, in fourteenth place with 31 games played.

Match Report 2.

Exeter won perhaps because of more than anything else they showed sheer persistence and kept working in bad conditions. They might have been a beaten side by half time had Wrexham taken their chances and had goalkeeper Bob Wilson not been in such good formHe made two tremendous saves from Kinsey and Smith. On the other side of the coin John Wingate had a header cleared off the Wrexham line, City took more control of the game in the second half and their endeavour eventually produced the reward. It came in the 80th minute from a Steve Morris cross, John Mitten had a shot blocked and the ball rebounded to Alan Banks who took the ball around Gaskell before squeezing the ball over the line from an acute angle, Wilson made another good save in the final minute to prevent an equaliser when diving at the feet of Kinsey. It was the perfect ending for Wilson who had a fine matchhe now seems to have really settled in with the club. Here are two points that Exeter City badly needed and they worked hard for them. It just goes to show what hard work can produce. John Wingate deserves special praise, for he was unbeatable in the air,